Okay, I know that the headline of this post seems to be too much but I am sure it has generated some eyeballs. Now, this is just another hypothetical situation: What if your government will decide one day that the use of and holding Bitcoin is illegal and anybody found to be contradicting this position can be thrown to jail with at least 5 years as the sentence without the possibility of using any internet-connected gadget?

I am assuming that the government would be using the latest technology and techniques for surveillance and detection against people who are fond of Bitcoin.

Would you still be involved with Bitcoin or just be a sheep and follow along so you can't be a victim of the government overreach?

Okay, I know that the headline of this post seems to be too much but I am sure it has generated some eyeballs. Now, this is just another hypothetical situation: What if your government will decide one day that the use of and holding Bitcoin is illegal and anybody found to be contradicting this position can be thrown to jail with at least 5 years as the sentence without the possibility of using any internet-connected gadget?

I am assuming that the government would be using the latest technology and techniques for surveillance and detection against people who are fond of Bitcoin.

Would you still be involved with Bitcoin or just be a sheep and follow along so you can't be a victim of the government overreach?

The government would be forced to make mass-arrests. I'd like to think that there would be major riots against it if such thing were to happen.Though assuming the new legislation to ban Bitcoin goes smoothly, I would switch to Monero, as would many others.

I'm sure it's not difficult to hide your use of Bitcoin from the government but I can't bother hiding my "crimes" all the time.Also you should define "latest technology and techniques for surveillance and detection against people who are fond of Bitcoin" because I'm not aware of any such thing at this time.

Its already under action in Bangladesh.They have a law using which they can even imprison a person if found using bitcoins.I don't understand the contrast between japan,a technologically developed country legalizes bitcoin and Bangladesh,an under developed country goes to the extent of imprisoning a bitcoiner.But thanks to the indian government,they are taking steps in favour of bitcoin legalization.

I think they'd be much more interested in taxing it and taking your wealth rather than outlawing it. Most gov'ts are just interested in spending your $$$$ one way or another. They'd be perfectly happy spending your BTC as well. Of course BTC does threaten the manipulation (by them) of the money supply and if suddenly they perceive it as a threat (threat being powerless to control the money) .. .then..they may do something. At which point you can vote them from office if you live in place where it's gov't by the people, which is becoming less and less these days. In the US people love to say "We live in a democracy" no..!!!!! We live in a republic, there's a difference!

This is a very serious topic. I don't know what I am going to do if the government enacts such as law banning the possession of Bitcoins. Perhaps I would stay away from BTC for a while. But when I face some financial difficulty, I will be forced to convert my coins to cash. If doing so is not possible in my country, then I'll be forced to travel abroad and convert my BTC to fiat.

why are some people still obsesses with this question? I don't get it.most countries have already showed support one way or another for bitcoin. what else do you want? Japan has already announced bitcoin as a legal method of payment just like any other currency. other countries have showed interest and already set rules for usage of bitcoin and clearly stated they are only against illegal activities such as money laundering through bitcoin or dark markets.

Maybe this could happen in countries like North Korea or similar but not in civilized world. I think we have overcome such things and Bitcoin outside the law is something in the history. I beleive no government today will reach for repression against Bitcoin and its users because they are aware this is part of new era of economy where cryptocurrencies will be functioning along with fiat currencies.

I would continue to use Bitcoin in case it is forbidden by any law in my country. Surely not from my home but it could be pretty easy to find a public place to use. Or a VPS from a country without such law. You can compare with Iran where any porn website is blocked in this country, even their government monitor VPN, etc but it still doesn't block the citizen to access it when they want

It will not happen, crypto currencies are here to stay regardless of government policies. That said, going to jail never stopped people from committing crimes or breaking the law. A large percentage of adopters will use them regardless.

Okay, I know that the headline of this post seems to be too much but I am sure it has generated some eyeballs. Now, this is just another hypothetical situation: What if your government will decide one day that the use of and holding Bitcoin is illegal and anybody found to be contradicting this position can be thrown to jail with at least 5 years as the sentence without the possibility of using any internet-connected gadget?

I am assuming that the government would be using the latest technology and techniques for surveillance and detection against people who are fond of Bitcoin.

Would you still be involved with Bitcoin or just be a sheep and follow along so you can't be a victim of the government overreach?

We are talking about bitcoin, so I guess in case this would happen, I will either liquidate all of my earnings or convert them to altcoins. But this event is less likely to happen. We are living in an innovative world where technology is continously developing. If some countries will decide to illegalize cryptocurrencies then they will get left behind by others if we talk about economy and development.

Yeah, I'd totally be a sheep and you'd not catch me with btc as long as it was banned. I like bitcoin, but not to the extent that I'd be willing to break the law and have my liberty threatened.It's just not worth it as far as I'm concerned.

But do I think that'll happen? No, not in my country. I can see it possibly happening in China orRussia, where the governments are pretty opressive. That isn't to say that it could never happen; Ijust think that it won't in my lifetime.

There is absolutely nothing to this. It may be a good fiction novel, but there is no reality connected to this persistent idea that (a, the) government is going to outlaw bitcoin users. There has also never been a way purposed to do something like this. It is no concern at all. If you just like to worry, then worry about a loss of net neutrality. That could sink the ship.

First of all if Bitcoin becomes an illegal currency the government won't use the latest surveillance and detection technology to catch you because they can disable Bitcoin in a fast way. Bitcoin exist virtually and anything that exist virtually can be controlled by the government just by blocking all the possible wallets would render your Bitcoin inside a wallet useless. Just like torrent sites all of them have their days numbered.

It might happen to some countries if they did not adopt the rising technology of digital currency and payment system. If bitcoin or other crypto currenices are used for illegal transactions like drug trafficking and arm smuggling and might threat to the sovereignty of their country then holding of bitcoins is disallowed. Unless if the government were run by the corporatocracies where large corporations controlled the government then there's no reason to outlaw bitcoin, most major corporations are now engaging into bitcoin and blockchain technology.

Its already under action in Bangladesh.They have a law using which they can even imprison a person if found using bitcoins.I don't understand the contrast between japan,a technologically developed country legalizes bitcoin and Bangladesh,an under developed country goes to the extent of imprisoning a bitcoiner.But thanks to the indian government,they are taking steps in favour of bitcoin legalization.

Why would they do that? Instead of arresting pioneers that could potentially invest in the country with their bitcoin earinings they should work on getting their country back on track. Like seriously, wasting infrastructure on people who just use it really? I think it's just because you can easily buy drugs with it.

Okay, I know that the headline of this post seems to be too much but I am sure it has generated some eyeballs. Now, this is just another hypothetical situation: What if your government will decide one day that the use of and holding Bitcoin is illegal and anybody found to be contradicting this position can be thrown to jail with at least 5 years as the sentence without the possibility of using any internet-connected gadget?

I am assuming that the government would be using the latest technology and techniques for surveillance and detection against people who are fond of Bitcoin.

Would you still be involved with Bitcoin or just be a sheep and follow along so you can't be a victim of the government overreach?

Give me your btc address. If that will happen I will send you Btc and government will put you on jail. . why do you think holding btc is crime? Just think btc as a digital asset, nothing more. Gov may try to track the btc transaction and put the taxes for it.

Okay, I know that the headline of this post seems to be too much but I am sure it has generated some eyeballs. Now, this is just another hypothetical situation: What if your government will decide one day that the use of and holding Bitcoin is illegal and anybody found to be contradicting this position can be thrown to jail with at least 5 years as the sentence without the possibility of using any internet-connected gadget?

I am assuming that the government would be using the latest technology and techniques for surveillance and detection against people who are fond of Bitcoin.

Would you still be involved with Bitcoin or just be a sheep and follow along so you can't be a victim of the government overreach?

The topic is indeed misleading! I thought this thread was going to discuss something real. A threat of sorts to people that use and hold bitcoins. But to my dismay, it is just another hypothetical question. Well, we've been having so much of these lately. Anyway, personally, I don't think the government can ban bitcoins and also there is really little point in doing that. It is not harmful to anyone or anything, in fact it can likely help the economy and how finance work, so what's the purpose of banning it?